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LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles project laying the foundation for the tallest building west of the
Mississippi broke the world record for the largest continuous concrete pour, a Guinness World
Records adjudicator said.

Round-the-clock pouring started at 4:47 p.m. Saturday, as 208 trucks made more than 2,100 trips
and poured 82 million pounds of concrete during an 18 1/2-hour period, said Sean Rossall, a
spokesman for the project building a skyscraper called the New Wilshire Grand.

Ultimately, 21,200 cubic yards of concrete were poured by 11:30 a.m. Sunday, beating the record
of 21,000 cubic yards set by the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas in 1999, Guinness World Records
adjudicator Michael Empric said on Sunday.

“If they don’t cool the concrete as it’s poured, it’ll go into this thermal reaction and crack,”
Empric said.

Each truck made 10 to 14 concrete drops, traveling through the night to one of eight concrete
plants within 20 miles of the site, Rossall said.

Once finished, the skyscraper will soar 1,100 feet. It will boast a 900-room hotel, convention
space and offices. There will be an outdoor terrace and a swimming pool on the 73rd floor.

It’s scheduled to be completed in 2016 and to open in 2017.

The New Wilshire Grand project, developed by Korean Air, is estimated to cost more than $1
billion and has been a huge undertaking.

For several months, crews prepared the site by digging an 18-foot-deep pit and lining it with 7
million pounds of reinforcing steel.

Because the concrete must be poured within 90 minutes of being mixed, trucks had to arrive on
time. In case of freeway jams, alternative routes were mapped. Rossall said traffic had a minimal
impact on the pouring.

The concrete now must cure, or set and harden, over the next couple of weeks.